Page 101 of Kiss of Light

She grinned and left the Spider.

She travelled fast in essence form. She covered the ground between the rapidly disappearing Spider and the mysterious pursuers in a matter of moments. When she finally set eyes on them, she was taken by surprise.

“I’ll be damned.”

Moving silently and at speed, upper bodies clad in silver and hindquarters armoured in chain mail, fifty centaurs were following the Spider. Part of Salaq’s bestial army.

They swarmed around her, through her, unheeding of her presence. If she’d had breath to catch, she would have.

It made sense. They were the only fae, apart from the superfast sprites, who could keep up with the Spider without using magic.

Tala had never possessed a bestial before, but there was always a first time. She focused on the next centaur about to run through her and let her essence take hold.

It was like sinking into a bed of razor blades.

Centaurs were not the noble creatures they were portrayed as in popular literature. They were brutish creatures, violent and almost totally wild. The last Fae King, Aelfric, had kept them under control by giving them the run of the Forbidden Zone. Salaq must have promised them something even better if they were now followinghisorders.

Tala struggled to understand the mosaic of images and feelings suddenly streaming through her mind. Centaurs were capable of speech and rational thought, but right now this one was operating on a more primal level.

It was caught up in the excitement of the mission, its body flooded with adrenaline. It took Tala several minutes to sift through its emotions and memories.

Finally, she saw the outline of the plan.

This group of fifty centaurs had one job. To make sure the Spider kept moving forward. Somewhere up ahead was a second cohort.

And when she was finally able to piece together whattheywere up to, she couldn’t get back to her own body fast enough.

“We need to go. Now.”

Tala sat up, startling Lemar.

“Go where?”

She didn’t answer. She grabbed his hand and moved to the hatch, yelling at it to open.

“Aftah.”

Lemar raised an eyebrow.

“What are we…”

She pushed him out. He twisted in mid air like a cat, landing on his feet. She followed, muttering the word to make the hatch close behind her as she fell. She landed lightly next to him and he glared at her.

“You…!”

She put her fingers to his lips and he immediately quietened. The Spider moved on resolutely, heedless of the fact that it was now empty. Lemar glanced after it, puzzled. Surely they were more vulnerable outside?

Tala tugged his hand and gestured to him to follow. She didn’t take the same path as the Spider. Instead, she veered round in a big loop before moving forward again towards no-man’s land.

The terrain here was rockier, the beginnings of the mountains which ringed Palissandra. They had gained altitude in the past twenty four hours and Lemar could smell cool freshness in the air. Unexpectedly, he felt a pang of welcome familiarity.

It smelled like home.

He wanted to ask Tala what they were doing but she was shimmering in and out. It was all he could do to keep up with her. The Spider was now far off to their distant left, still trudging stoically. They had almost pulled level with it when the sound of screaming metal pierced the night. Lemar pulled up, shocked.

The Spider was collapsing.

Its great metal legs bent and buckled as the body of the contraption pitched forward. The tearing sound came again, and this time when the Spider tried to step forward, two of its legs sheared off mid-section.

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